HEOS Cannot play entire album anymore?

Tavis75 · 25 Apr 2024 at 10:12

After having not used it for a while, I recently went back to using the HEOS app on my Marantz receiver and have now realised that since the major update it seems to have lost the ability to play an entire album from my local FLAC collection (through the Sources->Server option), you can only pick individual tracks, meaning if you want to listen to an album you have to go through and add each track to the playlist in turn, made even more awkward by the fact that songs now seem to be listed in alphabetical order rather than track order, so if you want the correct order you also need to look that up. Previously there was a "Play Album" button on the album page, but that seems to have gone.

Have I missed something, or is this just an oversight (or god forbid, a delibarate decision)? The app seems far more targetted towards streaming services since the update rather than playing your own music (and has a silly amount of whitespace between items in the track\album list) so not hugely impressed.

gailjon · 25 Apr 2024 at 14:50

I've just tried my Heos app and it plays the albums from my server (PC). Songs ordered all as before.

Tavis75 · 25 Apr 2024 at 14:53

Is that going through the "Sources->Server" option on the Home screen of the app or another way? Android or iOS?

Tavis75 · 25 Apr 2024 at 15:46

OK, seems I had to add the NAS as a Music Source (which annoyingly meant enabling SMB1 on it), this means it appears twice in the list of servers, but if I browse through the new one I do get the option to play the whole album and the tracks are shown in the correct order, but not if browing through the original link. With the previous version of the app, the default link would just give all the options.

gailjon · 25 Apr 2024 at 20:41

Tavis75 said:
Is that going through the "Sources->Server" option on the Home screen of the app or another way? Android or iOS?

Yes, source, server on ios app. Glad you got it sorted.

hornetstinger · 25 Apr 2024 at 23:07

Tbh I'd strongly recommend a dedicated streamer. Wiim pro (if using digital out) instead of avr streamer.

Just a better experience.

Tavis75 · 26 Apr 2024 at 08:49

hornetstinger said:
Tbh I'd strongly recommend a dedicated streamer. Wiim pro (if using digital out) instead of avr streamer.

Just a better experience.

Possibly, although the HEOS app does have the advantage that it integrates control of the amp and multi-room, whereas I think with a seperate DAC I'd need to be controlling some aspects separately, not a huge deal, but slightly less convenient. The app isn't brilliant but now I've solved the album issue it works well enough for picking what to play, which is all I really need it to do.

Audio quality wise, the Wiim devices look like they use the AKM4493 as opposed to the AKM4490 in my Marantz, so pretty similar, I believe the 4493 is slightly superior but of course you are adding another step into the process which might counteract that. Reading a review where they tried the Marantz with various DACs the opinion was that the Marantz on its own outperformed them until they got to the Benchmark DAC3 HGC, which costs over £2k!

hornetstinger · 26 Apr 2024 at 08:55

yes if using a dedicated streamer you'll need two remotes/two apps, or a single programmable universal remote.

Phone for universal "for all" is terrible experience. Even if there was a app that controlled everything it'll still be horrid (no hard buttons)

Other benefits of dedicated streamer is possibility of using superior music database system, I've found DLNA service so basic it's unusable. I'm using LMS- and the wiims support softsqueeze. Eversolo supports softsqueeze. I'd only buy a new streamer with LMS support.

hornetstinger · 26 Apr 2024 at 09:17

As for digital out/analogue, what model Marantz is it? Does it have analogue bypass/pure direct mode? If it doesn't then best to use digital sources

Tavis75 · 26 Apr 2024 at 09:26

hornetstinger said:
yes if using a dedicated streamer you'll need two remotes/two apps, or a single programmable universal remote.

Phone for universal "for all" is terrible experience. Even if there was a app that controlled everything it'll still be horrid (no hard buttons)

Other benefits of dedicated streamer is possibility of using superior music database system, I've found DLNA service so basic it's unusable. I'm using LMS- and the wiims support softsqueeze. Eversolo supports softsqueeze. I'd only buy a new streamer with LMS support.

I'd agree about a phone as a universal remote being terrible in general (as you say, no hard buttons, having to navigate to the app etc.), but for music streaming I find it works very well as obviously it allows easy browsing and track selection on the device, using a universal remote to control it would mean needing the screen on or a DAC with a screen in a convenient location, and even then that's probably not going to be as easy to navigate.

The Marantz is an 8805 (paired with a couple of 8077s) and it does have Pure Direct.

I can certainly see the advantage of a decent DAC with a better app and database.

hornetstinger · 26 Apr 2024 at 09:30

Yes for music streaming phone is great (or tablet) I use material skin LMS app. My universal remote can control the audio streamer, and amp in one, whilst I have the phone for the music streamer.

With Wiim pro you can use the Wiim app (for radio stations) and Material skin app (for LMS, for your local music).

as you would need to quit your music app, go to your Marantz app, then back again.

For large music collections LMS is a very good system it really puts the NAS UPNP service to shame.